Glass Act

As one of the first full-time residents of Richard Meier’s Perry Street towers, Michael Holtz has gotten used to life in the modernist fishbowl. The owner of the Smart Flyer, an upscale travel agency, Holtz can’t compete with his neighbors (Calvin, Nicole) for star status, but his second-floor apartment in the north tower still attracts plenty of attention: “Every Saturday morning, there’s a walking tour of the West Village,” he says, “and I’m sitting at the computer, and everyone’s pointing at me. Sometimes I pull down the shades, but usually I just play along and keep typing. If I had kids or was married, it would be more of an issue. It’s really the ultimate bachelor pad.” Of course, few bachelors live quite so stylishly. Holtz’s decorator, Chris Kraig, formerly of ABC Carpet & Home, has used shag rugs in wool and sisal, as well as pillows in raw silk and felt, to warm up the 1,800-square-foot concrete space, fitted out with American-walnut floors and anigre walls that float free of the perimeter windows and ceiling. “I love architectural spaces,” says Kraig, “but blended with a soft modernism, something tactile.” So no Mies (or even Meier, for that matter) but, rather, furniture that’s a mix of sixties Danish and contemporary Italian. “Michael was moving into one of the premier residential buildings of the last 50 years. The furniture had to live up to the architecture.”

Related StoryThe New West Coast
Along the Hudson from the Far West Village to western Soho, ambitious developers and their equally ambitious architects are attempting to turn what was a desolate stretch of warehouses (just try getting a cab!) into the city’s newest Gold Coast. More than half a dozen residential high-rises now going up, with spectacular views and premium amenities (resistance pool, anyone?), are designed to create what developers hope will be California on the Hudson—and detractors worry will be the future East Trenton. (February 9, 2004)